BP promised fast track PoD approval for Train 3

By Godang Sitompul

Upstream authority BPMIGAS called on British firm BP Plc to immediately submit Plan of Development (PoD) for the third train of the Tangguh LNG plant in West Papua, promising a quick approval of the PoD.

?BP has yet to submit its PoD. We shall call the company for a meeting tomorrow. Once we have received the PoD, we promise to approve it within 31 working days,? BPMIGAS? Planning Deputy Haposan Napitpulu told Petromindo.com.

He said BP had planned to drill 11 wells in November this year as part of the Train 3 project.

He made the statement in response to an earlier statement by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik calling on BPMIGAS to speed up the approval of PoD for Tangguh Train 3.

?We wish BPMIGAS would not delay approving the PoD,? Jero said.

According to Jero, top executives of BP will pay him a visit on Thursday to discuss the firm?s plan of investing a total of US$11 billion for various projects in Indonesia, including for Train 3. Jero has promised BP staff that the PoD for the project will be approved within 45 days.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon